Kings tame the Lions in second consecutive night

Red Deer, October 28, 2023 - The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings drop one set on their way to a four-set victory over the Ambrose University Lions, a night after the Kings took the match in three-straight sets.

Opening up the match was quite the set between the Kings and Lions as they were exchanging points with one another until Ambrose University managed to take a two-point lead that would put them ahead for most of the set. But the Kings pulled ahead when it mattered the most to take a 23-21 lead into a Lions timeout. Ambrose would back battle to within one but a missile of a kill from middle-blocker Dillon Gauci (Bachelor of Kinesiology) gave the Kings a 25-23 set victory.

In yet another neck-and-neck set, the Lions managed to pull ahead of the Kings to take a 20-17 lead which was followed by a timeout called by RDP. One big difference at this point in the match was Ambrose had 13 kills and was putting them away over 50 per cent of the time while the Polytechnic was under a 40 per cent kill efficiency.  While the Kings made an effort to come back, the Lions would find the equalizer to tie the match up with a 25-23 victory after a serve from setter Emmitt Juul-Hansen (Christian Studies) trickled over the net causing chaos on the Kings side of the net which led to the ref calling a centre line violation on the home squad.

Following a setback in the second set, the Kings jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the third with help from middle-blocker Spencer Purdie (Open Studies), who made it quite difficult for the Lions to set up anything on offense. But after back-to-back blocks on outside-hitter Colby Nemeth, the Lions found themselves just three points back at the halfway point of the set. In the end, the Kings would bounce back and take the third set 25-18 off Nemeth's ninth kill of the match.

The Kings would take the early lead in the fourth set and not look back as they held on to it right until the end with the final score being 25-16. Setter Tom Wass (Open Studies) had a couple of aces to close out the match.

The players of the match were awarded to Lions Kade Miller and Kings Spencer Purdie. Miller had a team-high 14 kills while Purdie finished with nine kills and two blocks.

The Kings will be on the road next weekend with their first stop being at Northwestern Polytechnic for a battle against the Wolves while the Lions will have a bye next weekend with their next match on the schedule being against the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings on November 11.

Players of the match: Kade Miller (Lions) and Spencer Purdie (Kings)